Students' plays performed at Kennedy Center regional festJan. 9, 2009 KALAMAZOO--Four Western Michigan University graduate student playwrights are having their plays presented at the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival's regional competition this week in Saginaw, Mich. The plays were picked by the Kennedy Center's National Playwriting Program and accounted for four of the 13 total works selected from more than 150 entries submitted in three different categories: 10-minute plays, one-act plays and full-length plays. The festival, held in Saginaw, Mich., began on Tuesday and continues through Sunday, Jan. 11. In addition to a live audience, the plays will be presented to a panel of luminary theatre professionals that this year includes Aaron Carter of Chicago's Victory Gardens Theatre and Roger Hall, the Kennedy Center's National Playwriting Program chairman. The Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival provides opportunities for more than 18,000 theatre students and faculty throughout the country. WMU playwrights
The WMU playwrights could have their plays selected to go on to the finals at the Kennedy Center later this year. Regardless, it's a great opportunity to be included in the regional, says Dr. Steve Feffer, WMU assistant professor of English, who serves as the vice chairman for the National Playwriting Program for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival's regional competition. "It is a competition, but it is also an important development opportunity for the playwrights," Feffer says. "They will be working with directors and actors so they can continue to shape their plays with strong collaborators from other schools and theatre professionals." It's also good news for WMU, Feffer adds. Never before have four plays written by WMU playwrights been presented at the same festival. "This is a tremendous honor to have four WMU playwrights selected out of the 13 plays going to the regional finals," Feffer says. "It speaks to the high quality of the playwriting students we are attracting in the creative writing program and the production and development opportunities we have to offer them for continuing their work in collaboration with WMUs theatre department and with local theatres, like the Whole Art Theater." For more information, contact Dr. Steve Feffer, WMU assistant professor of English, at steve.feffer@wmich.edu. Related article Media contact: Mark Schwerin, (269) 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu WMU News |